


Poetry and Plants

by the_many_splendored



Category: Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Getting Together, Locked In A Bookstore, Modern Era, Past Child Abuse, Tears, no magic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:09:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23322976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_many_splendored/pseuds/the_many_splendored
Summary: It's amazing how much you can open up to a person when you're locked in a bookstore reading together.
Relationships: Adam/Belle (Disney)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 29
Collections: Lock Down Fest





	Poetry and Plants

**Author's Note:**

> A quick and dirty modern AU for the Lockdown Fest! This section is roughly equivalent to the "Something There" sequence in the original movie, albeit with more smooching. I imagined the design of this place being like Kramerbooks in Washington DC, but the town in this story could be anywhere with a bumbling police force.

7:40 PM

“I think I owe you an apology,” Belle Fleming said as she wiped a crumb away from her mouth. She and her neighbor Adam Preston were finishing their dinner in a well-appointed café attached to the local bookstore. “If I’d known this was your aunt’s place, I would have recommended we go somewhere else to eat.” When Angela Potts had seen her nephew come through the shop door with a beautiful young brunette at his side, she’d gone to extra trouble to make their dinner fancy, despite Adam’s protests that he and Belle weren’t dating.

“It’s fine, really,” Adam said. “I’m mostly just glad to see that she’s up and about. She had a bad accident when I was ten, and I haven’t seen much of her since.”

Belle signaled for the check, and as she signed off on it with a generous tip, she said, “I’m glad she’s here too – we didn’t have a place like this in the town where I grew up.” Hitching her purse over her shoulder, she asked, “I don’t intend to buy anything, but I want to get a better look at the book selection – do you know how late the store’s open?”

“Not sure,” Adam answered, “but Aunt Angie runs a pretty tight ship – if we’re overstaying our welcome, she’ll let us know.” He pointed behind himself into the store. “Want me to show you where the classics section is?”

* * *

9:10 PM

When he looked at his watch, Adam let out a small but emphatic noise that made Belle look up from the copy of “Great Expectations” that she’d been perusing, along with the other Charles Dickens selections.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” she asked. “Did you stub your toe or something?” She smiled in a mischievous way, and Adam smiled back briefly before shaking his head, his brownish-red hair brushing his ears.

“No, but I _did_ just notice how late it is – I’d better get you back to your place before your dad worries.”

Closing the book and re-shelving it, Belle said, “I’m an adult, Adam – it’s not like he’s going to be waiting up for me with a shotgun.”

“Maybe not, but after the argument he and I had about the garden, I don’t want to get any further on his bad side.”

Belle couldn’t disagree. Maurice had walked into the shared yard between his and Adam’s home the first night after he and Belle moved in - not realizing Adam’s garden was private property, he had picked a few of Adam’s roses to bring to Belle. The ensuing screaming match had been loud enough to wake Belle from a sound sleep, and it had taken at least ten minutes of her telling both men to knock it off and promising to help fix the damage to the flowerbed before Adam and Maurice awoke half the neighborhood. They’d been more cordial to each other in the last few weeks, but Belle could appreciate Adam trying to be polite.

As they walked towards the main entrance, Belle looked around in confusion. “Weren’t there more lights on when we got in here?”

“There were,” Adam agreed. Without looking, he pushed on the main door out – and then couldn’t make it move. “The hell….is this thing stuck?” Standing back, he turned to his side and pushed again, this time using his shoulder. When nothing happened, he turned back to Belle with a huff. “I…think we’re locked in.”

Belle’s eyes went wide and she started drumming her fingers on the strap of her bag. “Ok, so what do we do? Call the police, sure, but don’t we need to call your aunt too? She’s gonna be the one with the key, right?”

Adam pulled out his phone. “I think I’d rather call my aunt; the police around here aren’t exactly quick on the draw.” Dialing off a number, he put the phone to his ear and waited through several rings before a voicemail prompt picked up.

**_“This is Angela Potts; please leave a message after the tone. Have a wonderful day!”_ **

Shoving his free hand into a pocket, Adam spoke into the phone: “Aunt Angie, it’s Adam, it’s about 9:15 PM on Friday night, and Belle and I are stuck inside the shop; guess we got locked in. I don’t want to mess with any alarms, so could you please come let us out as soon as you can? Thanks.” Hanging up, he leaned against the register counter. “I’ll still call in a report to the cops too if you want?”

Belle shook her head. “If you say they’re too slow, I believe you – I’ll just text my dad to let him know what’s going on.” She sent off a quick message and turned around, walking back into the store in the direction of the poetry shelf. “If we’re waiting,” she called over her shoulder, “I want to reread some Neruda.”

* * *

9:45 PM

Belle had gotten to the comfortable chair first, so when Adam found a book of horticulture to take up his own attention, he sat across from her on the shop floor. Every now and then, he would look up at her, smile at how much she seemed to be enjoying herself, and then return to his book.

That said, he could only read so much about different mulches before getting bored, and after about half an hour, he closed his volume with a sigh and leaned back against a shelf, closing his eyes.

“Are you-” Belle started to ask, and she felt her heart clench in her chest. In the quick look she took in his direction, Adam suddenly looked exceptionally gorgeous, even beyond his natural good looks. In the low light, the reddish highlights in his hair almost looked copper, and there was something sensual about the shape of his lips. How had she never noticed before? Clearing her throat, she asked again, “Are you ok?”

Adam’s eyes blinked open, and he nodded, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands. “Yeah, I’m just getting tired. Thanks for being a good sport about this; I swear this isn’t how I wanted the evening to go.”

Belle put her poetry book down and sat down on the floor across from him. Her expression was sincere when she said, “I know that– I can tell your intentions are sincere.”

He looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

She smiled. “I’ve been around guys who manipulated situations to their advantage. You and I have had disagreements and arguments, but you’ve never made me feel unsafe like that, not once.” Squeezing his hand, she said, “I’m happy to call you a friend.”

Looking down at where their hands met, Adam felt his eyes sting. Before he registered fully what was going on, tears were running down his face, and he was starting to shake. Belle took her hand away, but it was only so she could put it on his shoulder. “Hey,” she said softly, “did I say something wrong?”

Adam shook his head, his voice catching as he tried to explain. “No – no, Belle, you’re wonderful. I just…I suddenly realized that I don’t think I’ve felt…worthy of having a friend…not in a very long time…” The tears were now full sobs, and Belle rubbed soothing circles onto his shoulder.

It took a few minutes, but Adam’s breathing calmed, and he looked up at Belle in gratitude. Wiping off his face, he said, “I think I was so relieved that I hadn’t messed things up between us that something inside of me…kinda broke open.”

Scooting around, Belle arranged herself so that she was now sitting at Adam’s side. “You don’t have to talk about it, but if you want to, I’m willing to listen.” She offered her hand once again, and Adam took it.

He rubbed his thumb over hers, and Belle wondered if it was a grounding measure. “You know how I said my aunt had an accident when I was a kid? I was in the car with her when it happened.” Belle squeezed his fingers and he continued. “I was able to use her phone to call the emergency line, but the police and ambulance didn’t show up for 45 minutes. Like I said before, they’re way too slow; my parents got there first. When I saw the emergency crew roll up, I was so furious about the delay that I actually screamed in the face of the first officer to get out of his car.”

“What happened? I’m sure the guy was startled by getting the Riot Act from a ten-year-old.” Belle was surprised by how easily she could picture in her mind a young red-headed boy with justified rage in his blue eyes chewing out a policeman twice his size.

“More than startled – the bastard immediately grabbed me and threw me in the back of his patrol car. I’m still surprised he didn’t cuff me – but I’ll always remember what he said as he locked me in. He called me a horrid little beast and said I should be ashamed of making a scene like that in front of my folks.”

Belle’s jaw dropped. “And your parents didn’t have anything to say about this??”

Adam let out a sad laugh. “That’s the worst part – I think they agreed with him. When my dad came to get me after the ambulance took my aunt away, I was treated to a lecture about how this sort of thing reflected on the family.”

Belle was disgusted on his behalf, but she let him continue. “Over the next few years, I _did_ start acting beastly – I lashed out at anyone who I thought deserved it, I got into stupid fights, got drunk way too often, and I lost every school friend I had. When I turned 18, I moved out from my parents’ home, and I was convinced they were happy to see me go.”

“Did…” Belle tried to phrase the question delicately. “Did they actually say so?”

Adam shook his head. “They didn’t have to. My father handed me enough money to get the first month’s rent at a new place, but he and my mom never asked for an address when I got settled, and I haven’t seen them since. Until you and your dad moved in next to me, my main emotional connection has been to my garden.”

Belle could tell that delicacy was still needed, and she asked gently, “Does that mean that you…feel an emotional connection to us now?”

A stray hair had fallen out of her ponytail, and Adam moved it back behind her ear. “I feel something with _you_ , Belle. You’re beautiful, and you’re kind and…” Words seemed to fail him, and with an urgency suggesting he hadn’t done this in a very long time, he pulled her into his lap and kissed her deeply.

Belle’s squeak of surprise turned into a moan as she kissed him back, her arms wrapping around his neck. Adam’s fingers began to trace her spine, and they didn’t break apart until his phone rang through with a call from his aunt, saying she was on her way.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Poetry, Plants, and the Path to True Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23470162) by [the_many_splendored](https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_many_splendored/pseuds/the_many_splendored)




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